1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image storing method and an image storing system for storing image data obtained by reading an image from a film or a print. The present invention also relates to a program embodied on a computer-readable recording medium that causes a computer to execute the image storing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional prints using silver salt photographic films have been used in various manners. For example, one may check how his/her prints look or communicate with his/her friends by sharing the prints or by sending additional prints thereto. In other cases, conventional prints are enlarged for display or stored in the form of photograph albums. However, such prints using silver salt photographic films tend to accumulate in large quantities if not organized frequently, and utilization thereof, such as searching for a desired one of the prints or using the prints for additional print generation, becomes difficult. Especially, in the case where the prints are simply stacked, the prints are often not sorted in order of photographing, leaving organization thereof more difficult.
Meanwhile, if such prints are organized frequently, the prints can be utilized easily. However, classifying the prints in order of photographing or according to themes is time-consuming. Furthermore, even if the prints are organized in the form of photograph albums, only one set of photograph albums is generally made. Therefore, sharing the prints with a considerable number of people or with a person living far away is difficult.
If the prints are not organized, not only the prints but also negative films are stacked. Such negative films are kept as they are or stored in a box or a bag without being classified. Furthermore, as a user who is the photographer of the prints ages and his/her family expands with children and grandchildren, the number of negative films and prints also increases. Therefore, a large amount of prints or negative films result if not organized properly. Since printing becomes impossible without prints or negative films, the prints and negative films are rarely disposed of. Consequently, many families have a trouble in organizing or storing such prints and films.
Meanwhile, a photograph service system has been proposed, as has been described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,346,998, for example. By using such a system, image data obtained by reading images recorded on a negative film or prints with use of a reading apparatus such as a scanner are stored in a recording medium such as a CD-R. The image data can further be viewed with use of a reproduction apparatus such as a personal computer, or printed according to a request made by a user. Furthermore, a network photograph service system comprising an image storing system has also been proposed (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,324,521, for example). In such a system, image data are stored in an image storage server by being sent thereto via a network such as the Internet. The image data can be viewed with use of a terminal that is located away from the image storage server, and the system can deal with various kinds of processing such as printing order processing.
However, in such an image storing system, images are read from negative films during printing processing including film development, and image data are stored in classification according to the rolls of film. Therefore, relating a user who requested storage of the image data with each of the rolls of film is difficult. Moreover, since images are stored by simply reading the images from negative films, a large amount of image data are simply stored without being classified if the images are read from the films or prints neglected in a household as has been described above. In this case, a user accessing the image storage server needs to organize the large amount of image data. However, organization of such image data is as troublesome as organization of the negative films and prints. Consequently, the system is inconvenient to use.